List of Indian Hotel/Travel Booking Websites

As we move towards Aatmanirbhar Bharat, Indians, who travel so much, could make use of these Indian websites for booking hotels / travels. Surely, there will be many with foreign investments.

Recommendation – Use OYO, and MakeMyTrip group. Use these websites to booking hotels/travels across the world.

  • Indian websites for hotel/travel booking
    • Cleartrip – https://www.cleartrip.com/
      • Headquartered in Mumbai
      • CEO & Founder seems a foreign citizen studied in UK with PIO (Person of Indian Origin card) status – Ref
      • Possible that the International trips booked on the website are in done in collaboration with foreign website like Expedia
    • ixigo – https://www.ixigo.com/
      • Office in Gurugram, Haryana
      • Some foreign hotels are booked through Booking.com
      • Has some investments from foreign companies – which is same for most, if not all, companies
    • MakeMyTrip – https://www.makemytrip.com/
      • Headquartered in Gurugram, Haryana; Has some Chinese investment; Wiki
    • OYO – https://www.oyorooms.com/
      • Headquartered in Gurugram, Haryana; Wiki
      • Only for accommodation booking and not for travel booking as of yet
  • Some websites popular in India but aren’t Indian
    • Agoda.com – Owned by Booking Holdings based in the USA – Wiki
    • Goomo.com
      • Headquartered in Mumbai
      • Owned by Goomo Holdings Services India Private Limited which is subsidiary of a foreign company – Ref
      • One of the director seems to be belonging to a company in Berlin, Germany – Ref
  • Not Indian

Most Popular Newspapers Around the Globe

Impact of COVID-19 on Education Evaluation for Canada Immigration

InstituteWebsiteCovid Info PageImpact
CES (Comparative Education Services by University of Toronto)LinkUpdates, FAQProcessing paused until further notice
ICAS (International Credential Assessment Services of Canada)LinkNews and UpdatesProcessing paused; expected timeline at least 30 weeks
WES (World Education Services)LinkNoticesIncoming mail processing taking 1.5 months (SLA post receipt of all documents is 35 business days) meaning total of about 4 months
IQAS (International Qualifications Assessment Service)LinkContactProcessing time after receipt of documents is 10 to 14 weeks
ICES (International Credential Evaluation Service)LinkProcessing TimesProcessing time after receipt of documents is 16 weeks
Processing times of each of 5 Canada Immigration education evaluation services during COVID19

Indian Replacements of CamScanner Chinese app

Let’s get to business directly! Use #Swadeshi, Be #Aatmanirbhar
CamScanner like document scanning software from India:

App NameGoogle Play Store LinkApple App Store Link
Document Scanner – PDF Creatorhttps://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cv.docscanner
iScannerhttps://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.idirection.iscanner
Kaagaz Scanner : Best Indian Document & PDF Scanhttps://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=kaagaz.scanner.docs.pdf
Bharat Scannerhttps://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kickhead.camscanner
CamScanner replacement from India
  • Document Scanner – PDF Creator
    • It’s a full-fledged replacement of CamScanner. It has most or even more features than CamScanner.
    • Pricing:
      • It has a free edition which comes with ads
      • And then it has Pro and VIP subscriptions; both are one time payments for lifetime use (unlike CamScanner where it’s a monthly or annual payment) and those are not too costly
  • iScanner
    • This is a very lightweight application. It doesn’t have its own storage. It simply let’s you scan a document, stores it as a photo inside phone memory and let’s you export and share it as JPG or PDF.
    • Totally free app but seems have started putting ads.
    • No-nonsense app.
  • Kaagaz Scanner
    • This app has more features than iScanner but very less features compared to Document Scanner – PDF Creator.
    • Totally free app with no-ads
    • Again, a no-nonsense app.
  • Bharat Scanner
    • Created by IIM-Bengaluru Alumni.
    • Midgrade when looked at features
    • Free with Ads

Reference:

Replacements of other Chinese apps: Ref: http://www.uniqueindiatech.com/here-are-the-apps-you-can-use-instead-of-tiktok-camscanner-or-uc-browser/

Recipe: Spiced boiled-potatoes

Boiled potatoes

Quickest and natural food – spiced boiled-potatoes – for a real lazy cook like me!

  • Ingredients
    • Potatoes
    • Spices
      • Ground, roasted cumin and coriander seeds
      • Red chilly powder
      • Oil
      • Table salt
  • Recipe
    • Boil potatoes
    • Peel potatoes
    • Cut in large pieces
    • Add oil in good quantity
    • Add salt and red chilly powder as needed
    • Add good amount of ground, roasted cumin and coriander seeds
  • It’s ready! 🙂

Some great movies to watch

Here are some movies I would like to recommend! Idea to write this post came through Cisco Gateway Americas asking all to come and suggest top 5 movies of their choice.

List of websites that restrict reading

Because I don’t like ads on internet while browsing, I despise and boycott the websites with predatory ads and those which allow access to content only after either of disabling ad-blockers or require subscription:

SiteApproachExample URL
Business InsiderSubscribe or disable ad-blockerExample Link
Daily Telegraph AustraliaSubscribeExample Link
Digital TrendsDisable ad-blockerExample Link
ForbesSign-in or disable ad-blockerExample Link
Nation Valley NewsDisable ad-blockerExample Link
The Economic TimesSubscribe to access some articlesExample Link
The HinduSign-in or disable ad-blockerExample Link
The TelegraphPay to subscribe to readExample Link
List of websites that hates ad-blockers with their approach of allowing content with example URL that gets blocked

International Money Transfer websites and their headquarters

Features of Popular To-Do Apps

FeatureAny.do (Free Version)Microsoft To-Do (Free Version)
Platform Base – Seamless access acrossYesYes
Task SharingYesYes
Calendar IntegrationNativeNon-native
Grocery ListYesNo
Recurring TasksYes (limited)Yes
Clean InterfaceYesYes
Task List OrderingExcellentAverage
Evolving (feature additions)Mostly only Paid FeaturesExcellent

Golf Courses are bad for Environment

  • Aspects and Impacts
    • Loss of Clean Air
      • Grass isn’t much of help in generating Oxygen; only trees with lots of leaves produce sizeable amount of Oxygen which are rare in amount in Golf Courses
    • Eats up Freshwater Resources
      • Golf courses require an enormous amount of water every day and, as with other causes of excessive extraction of water, this can result in water scarcity.
        • An average golf course in a tropical country such as Thailand uses as much water as 60,000 rural villagers
      • If the water comes from wells, overpumping can cause saline intrusion into groundwater.
      • Golf resorts are more and more often situated in or near protected areas or areas where resources are limited, exacerbating their impacts.
    • Pollutes Soil
      • An average golf course in a tropical country such as Thailand needs 1,500kg of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides per year